50 Sites and Apps for Digital Storytelling

Digital Storytelling is the process of telling a story through the use of digital means. It also happens to be one the easiest ways to integrate technology into the classroom. Educators can use digital storytelling with almost any subject and can even "flip" their classroom by using mobile apps. Below is my comprehensive list of sites/apps that can be used for digital storytelling, presented in alphabetical order.

30hands - A fantastic user-friendly iOS app for creating a story by adding a narrations to photos. Also has an excellent video tutorial to help users create a story.

Animation Desk - A innovative iPad app that allows a user to create a custom drawing and then animate it, as well as adding sounds.

AnMish - A fun site to create a puppet, record audio, and then embed into a site to tell a story.

Art Maker - A wonderful iPad app for kids to create a digital story by selecting a background, adding characters, and then recording audio.

Bitstrips for Schools - A great site for creating digital comics in the classroom ,with lots of resources and an educational portal.

BoomWriter - A fantastic safe site for students (teachers create accounts - not student email required) to create digital stories/books through a collaborative process. Once a story is completed, it gets published online and an actual book can then be ordered.

Comic Life - Probably the most popular digital comic iOS app for creating comics. This is a very fun and easy to use app for telling the story by creating a customized comic.

Comic Master - One of my favorite sites for creating a digital comic by selecting a template, adding characters/props, and then adding text to tell a story.

Digital Films - A nice site for creating a digital animated story and then embedded into a site/blog to share it with others.

Five Card Flickr - A fun way to create a story through the use of five random Flickr photos.

i Tell a Story - Users of Garageband will feel right at home with this great iOS app for creating a digital story.

Inklewriter - A unique site that allows students to collaborate with others to build a story by branching off of other paths.

Little Bird Tales - One of the most popular sites for digital storytelling that allows students to create their own art and record their voice. Also, there is a excellent iOS app available for mobile learning.

Make Beliefs Comix - A nice site for creating digital comics in a number of different languages as well of lots of educational resources.

Meograph - An innovative site for four dimensional storytelling that has an educational portal.

Moo-O - A fantastic site that has students use their own photo inside of a digital story.

My Story - A wonderful iPad app for creating a digital book/story. All a user has to do is draw or upload a picture, add some text, and then record audio to tell a story.

my StoryMaker - A very fun site for creating a digital story by adding lots of elements such as: characters, objects, backgrounds, and more.

Primary Access - An interesting site for creating a digital story with historical stock footage.

Qwiki - A simple to use iOS app for creating a story. Qwiki automatically groups pictures and videos to create a presentation. A user can then customize this by drag-n-dropping into any order they want or selecting specific music.

Scribble Press - A terrific iPad app for creating a digital book/story through drawing and object tools. Users can also order a print copy of their book.

SonicPics - A great iOS app for creating digital story by recording narrations to a user's photos.

Speech Journal - A nice iPad app for pairing recorded audio with a digital picture from one's iPhoto library to create a story.

Stage'D - A cool site for creating a visually stunning CGI rendered story.

Sock Puppets - A very fun iOS app that allows users to lip-sync audio to a sock puppet. One of my kids' favorites!

Story Creator - One of my favorite iOS apps for creating a digital story by syncing audio and photos together. Also, an option allows for highlighting of text during narration to help a student with reading.

Story Patch - A excellent site for creating a story. Teaches a student the step-by-step process of story creation.

Storybird - A great site with educational portal where students create art-inspired stories and then embed into a site/blog.

StoryJumper - A fantastic site for creating a digital story by building a story from scratch or choosing one of the story starters. A student can add objects, text, and even upload their own art too.

StoryKit - A simple-to-use iOS app for telling a story by adding text, photos, and audio.

Storyplanet - A very innovative site for creating a digital story or video mashup. Users select a theme or template (or create their own), add video, photos, text, effects, etc. and then share with others.

StorySmith - A fun iPad app for telling a digital story with either a fantasy- or pirate-based theme.

Strip Designer - A iOS app similar to Comic Life for creating a digital comic.

Toontastic - One of the most popular and fun iPad apps for digital storytelling by adding characters/objects to a background and recording your audio while moving the pieces around.

Tell a Tale - A interesting iPad app that has a user verbally tell a story based on the first and last sentence of a story and three images.

Tellagami - A nice way to tell a short story by creating an avatar and then recording audio, similar to Voki.

Tumblecloud - A unique site that allows users to collaborate on a digital story through a drag-n-drop interface.

UtellStory - A nice place to tell a story through audio, images, and video, as well as collaborating with others.

VoiceThread - One of the most popular educational sites/apps for creating a interactive digital storytelling by uploading multimedia content and recording an audio narration. A finished VoiceThread can then be embedded into a site/blog.

Web of Stories - A community where users tell their story through the use of video.

WriteComics - A simple to use site for creating a digital comic to tell a story.

Xtranormal - A very popular site for creating stunning animated videos, with educational portal.

Zeen - Create a story by adding text, images, music, videos and more, then embed into a site to share.

David Kapuler is an educational consultant with more than 10 years of experience working in the K-12 environment. For more information about his work, contact him at dkapuler@gmail.com and read his blog at cyber-kap.blogspot.com